Chanell Stone
Seraphim, 2018/2020
Estimated Value: $5,000

Archival pigment print
24 x 24 inches
Unframed
Edition 1/4 +1 AP
Signed, verso
Donated by the artist.

Guided by existential questions of being and belonging I use self-portraiture to negotiate what it means to hold space as a Black body in the natural world. Working through the conflicting lineage surrounding the African American legacy and nature, I challenge notions of what a landscape is and whom it is intended for. This exploration has developed into a mixture of environmental portraits and studio studies. All of which aim to re-nature the urbanized Black body to the American landscape and reconcile generational disconnects.

"Seraphim" is derived from a studio study exploring the concept of origin and the primordial. The sitters, cloaked in white bathed in shadow, appear statuesque finely molded by light. The mundanity of the studio is disrupted through evidencing of the environment. An exposed set grounds the figures in reality while the sitter's direct gaze offers a moment of broken character acknowledging the exchange between subject and maker. All of which offer subtle insights into Stone's process.

This photograph is part of a limited edition.

About the Artist:
Chanell Stone

Chanell Stone (b.1992, Los Angeles) is an American artist and photographer living and working in Oakland, CA. Stone earned her BFA in Photography from the California College of the Arts in 2019. Her practice focuses on challenging insular views of Blackness by expanding on narratives subject to Black erasure. This avidity has led her to explore the Black body’s connection to the natural world. Through a compilation of environmental self-portraits, she uses herself as a conduit to depict both personal and collective Black narratives. Stone’s notable accomplishments include her solo exhibition “Natura Negra’’ at the Museum of the African Diaspora San Francisco, her inclusion in the 2019 Aperture Summer Open at the Aperture Foundation New York, and being a selected finalist for the 2020 Artadia San Francisco Award. Stone has exhibited at Casemore Kirkeby San Francisco, SF Camerawork, Berkeley Art Center and the Center for Photography at Woodstock, New York in which her work is permanently collected. She is the recipient of the 2019-2020 Emerging Artist Award at the Museum of the African Diaspora San Francisco, the Svane Family Foundation Artwork Commission, and a 2020 Artist-in-Residence at Real Time and Space Oakland. Stone's practice was featured in W Magazine's "8 Young Photographers to Follow in 2020."

Stone was a selected finalist in San Francisco Camerawork’s FORECAST 2019 juried show.

Website: chanellstone.com
Instagram: @___califia
CashApp: $cmstone92
Paypal: stone.chanell@gmail.com
Zelle: stone.chanell@gmail.com